Land battle
Battles occur when one player or alliance attacks the city of another player, which can be reinforced by their alliance in turn. The basic breakdown A land battle will occur in either situation: * A pillage mission * An occupation mission Battles are broken up into rounds. Each round lasts 15 minutes, and the battle will only end with one party ending victorious in any of the situations: * All of the enemy player's units are killed. * Either the attacker or defender surrender. * Morale reaches a low point and the units flee. Land battles The battle does not officially begin until one of the wall's possible breaches are destroyed, therefore bringing several siege weapons is highly advised. Walls have defensive features, so can damage an army before any breaches have been achieved. There are some bits of a battle that need a slightly larger comprehension of the game, but it still is fairly simple. The main aim in a land battle is usually to breach the town wall losing the least number of heavy, light, ranged and auxiliary units. Sea battles Sea battles do not contain walls, therefore there are no defensive bonuses for ships. Air units naturally don't fight in these battles and, due to the lack of a wall, there are no artillery ships. Each side in a sea battle has 5 slots for the front battle line, that can hold 10 ships each, 5 slots for the long-range weapons battle line, that can also hold 10 ships each, and 1 slot especially for Diving Boats, that can hold 30 Diving Boats, for a maximum total of 130 ships on each side if every slot is kept full. Strategy # If you can, recruit lots of Steam Giants.If not then go for Hoplites as they both serve as your front line. # Long-Range Fighters should fight from the wall or behind strong ground troops as they can attack the swordsmen, who circulate around the Hoplites (Use Sulfur Carbiners, if you can't then Archers or slingers). # Remember, units cost upkeep. Keep as many units as it takes to defend your town, but not too many so you go bankrupt. # Cooks and Doctors are very useful. If you can, bring lots, so that you maintain high morale and little losses, but if you have Steam giants then there is no need for doctors, because they can't heal them and they will just raise your upkeep. # Swordmen are the key for wining long and huge battles, whoever runs out from them loses. Morale Morale is one of the main driving forces of a battle, affecting one of the three possible outcomes of the battle. When a battle starts, morale is at 100% for both sides. However, during the battle morale decreases by 10% every round, therefore if no cooks are present, a battle can only last at maximum 10 rounds. Also, due to varying sizes of armies, morale can drop even further in the smaller army. * You can see the morale percentages of the players that take part in a battle by scrolling down in the detailed battle report. Also, you can see how and how much their morale has changed in a particular round by mouseovering over the percentages. * Note: 1 Cook reduces the drop in morale by 1% in each round. Ergo, if 100 cooks are sent into battle, morale will stay at 100%, eliminating the chance of the battle ending as a morale based defeat. From combat experience and various reports by active players it is noted that sending only 50 cooks has the effect of mainting morale at 100% all through. The battlefield The size of the Town hall affects the size of the battlefield. With every advancement of battlefield, a larger amount of troops are deployed at once. The rest are all classed as reserves and will only come into battle to replace another unit who was killed. If the Heavy Infantry (Hoplites & Steam Giants) line is broken and no other Heavy Infantry units can replace it, other units from the Light Infantry, Long-Range Fighter and Auxiliary categories will replace them, however they are much more likely to die than a standard Heavy Infantry unit. This means that, to make Long-Range Fighter units and Auxiliary units do their jobs, you must first fill the Heavy Infantry spaces. Good battle examples Bring enough fully upgraded Steam Giants, Swordsmen, Sulphur Carabineers, Mortars and lots of Auxiliary units to fill all the corresponding spots and have some extra in reserve, especially for the Sulphur Carabineers, which only have 3 rounds of ammo. The Heavy Infantry will create a very good defense, the Swordsmen will attempt to flank the enemies, successfully if the enemy has no Light Infantry, the Sulphur Carabineers will shoot the target with their Harquebuses, the auxiliary troops will heal the Heavy Infantry and feed all the troops, and, assuming there are no Balloon-Bombardiers, the Artillery units will be safe to destroy the walls. Bad battle examples Attacking a village with a simple army such as some spearmen, swordsmen, a few slingers, no rams, and maybe a cook with about 30 hoplites will probably be unsuccessful because Heavy Infantry and Artillery units are lacking. But lets say you're attacking with an army of 20 hoplites and several of the other types. Since a square of positioning takes 30 men max you will only be able to partially fill 1 square with your Hoplites. Soldiers from the other lines (Archers, Swordsmen etc) will fill the slots but will be quickly defeated. Tips If you want to attack a big town that you can't afford to fill its front battle line but you have confirmed that they don't have (or have few) protectors in that place, just send your Light Infantry and Heavy Infantry units, in order to protect the Long-Range Fighter and Auxiliary units. This is also useful if your aim is not a serious fight but want to go there with a good battle plan. If you have no other options, sending just Light Infantry, Heavy Infantry and Artillery units should suffice. Notes * All extra units will go into reserve. * All units that are ammo-dependent (Slingers, Archers, Sulphur Carabineers, Catapults, Mortars, Gyrocopters and Balloon-Bombardiers) will pool their ammo together. *: For example, if you have 36 Catapults deployed in a Metropolis/Open Battlefield (18 Catapults into the battlefield), you'll have ammo enough for 10 rounds (36 x 5 shots each = 180 shots / 18 shots per round = 10), and so forth for other units. * Long-Range Fighter units will remain in the long-range battle line as long as they are not out of ammunition. Long-Range Fighter units will be forced to fill the front battle line, only if they run out of ammo or a gap is present in the front battle line and the long-range battle line is already filled. Same applies to Long-Range Fighter units in Sea Battles (Ballista Ships, Catapult Ships and Mortar Ships). Garrison Limit The attacking player might be forced to fight in the largest size battlefield format, regardless of the size of the town under attack. This happens only when the defending units body count is more than the Garrison Limit of the town they defend. This has many strategic defensive advantages, to mention a few: * The element of surprising the attacker who is expecting to fight a certain battlefield size with closed flanks and a wall, only to find themselves fighting an open field with open flanks. They may not be prepared for this and did not send flanking units in the first wave, which will result in a slaughter of the attacking ranged units and artillery if the defense have unopposed flank units * Fighting few rounds in open field while defending army is losing units will exhaust attackers artillery units munition. When enough casualties are sustained by the defender that the army body count is less than the garrison limit, the battle will move behind the Town wall. This means an automatic defeat for the attacker if they are out of artillery munition, or still have munition but is not enough to take down the wall, or don't have a chance or cannot send a new artillery reinforcement wave. Battlefield types Village A town of Level 1-4 is classed as a Village. The smallest battlefield format allows the following: * 3 slots x 30 spaces = 90 spaces allowing Heavy Infantry units or other units needed to fill the front battle line. * 3 slots x 30 spaces = 90 spaces allowing Long-Range Fighter units. * 1 slot x 30 spaces = 30 spaces allowing Artillery units. * 1 slot x 10 spaces = 10 spaces allowing Air-Defense units (only 10 Gyrocopters). * 1 slot x 10 spaces = 10 spaces allowing Air units (only 5''' Balloon-Bombardiers). * 1 slot allowing unlimited number of Cooks. * 1 slot allowing unlimited number of Doctors. The '''village battlefield format is too small to allow the maneuvering for Light Infantry units, therefore there are no slots for flanks. Full deployment formation * 90 Hoplites or 30 Steam Giants * 90 Slingers, 90 Archers or 21 Sulphur Carabineers * 6 Rams, 6 Catapults or 6 Mortars * 10 Gyrocopters * 5 Balloon-Bombardiers * Unlimited Cooks * Unlimited Doctors Town A town of Level 5-9 is classed as a Town. The medium battlefield format allows the following: * 5 slots x 30 spaces = 150 spaces allowing Heavy Infantry units or other units needed to fill the front battle line. * 5 slots x 30 spaces = 150 spaces allowing Long-Range Fighter units. * 2 slots x 30 spaces = 60 spaces allowing Light Infantry units. * 2 slots x 30 spaces = 60 spaces allowing Artillery units. * 1 slot x 20 spaces = 20 spaces allowing Air-Defense units (only 20 Gyrocopters). * 1 slot x 20 spaces = 20 spaces allowing Air units (only 10 Balloon-Bombardiers). * 1 slot allowing unlimited number of Cooks. * 1 slot allowing unlimited number of Doctors. Full deployment formation * 150 Hoplites or 50 Steam Giants * 150 Slingers, 150 Archers or 35 Sulphur Carabineers * 60 Swordsmen or 60 Spearmen * 12 Rams, 12 Catapults or 12 Mortars * 20 Gyrocopters * 10 Balloon-Bombardiers * Unlimited Cooks * Unlimited Doctors Metropolis / Open battlefield format A town from Level 10 and up is classed as a Metropolis. The largest battlefield format consists of the following: * 7 slots x 30 spaces = 210 spaces allowing Heavy Infantry units or other units needed to fill the front battle line. * 7 slots x 30 spaces = 210 spaces allowing Long-Range Fighter units. * 4 slots x 30 spaces = 120 spaces allowing Light Infantry units. * 3 slots x 30 spaces = 90 spaces allowing Artillery units. * 1 slot x 30 spaces = 30 spaces allowing Air-Defense units (only 30 Gyrocopters). * 1 slot x 30 spaces = 30 spaces allowing Air units (only 15 Balloon-Bombardiers). * 1 slot allowing unlimited number of Cooks. * 1 slot allowing unlimited number of Doctors. Full deployment formation * 210 Hoplites or 70 Steam Giants * 210 Slingers, 210 Archers or 49 Sulphur Carabineers * 120 Swordsmen or 120 Spearmen * 18 Rams, 18 Catapults or 18 Mortars * 30 Gyrocopters * 15 Balloon-Bombardiers * Unlimited Cooks * Unlimited Doctors Unit types Units break down into the following: Heavy Infantry Heavy Infantry are the basis of the army. Heavy Infantry will occupy your front line, if you do not have enough Heavy Infantry to fill the front line, Light Infantry, Auxiliary, and Long-Range Fighter units will move up, so you will need a lot. Heavy Infantry will attack the opponents Heavy Infantry and/or Town wall. 30 Hoplites can fill one unit slot of the battlefield, but it takes only 10 Steam Giants to fill it. Barbarian-Axe Swingers are also considered as Heavy Infantry and 15 of them can fill one unit slot of the battlefield. * Note: Heavy Infantry units will not spread themselves out across the Heavy Infantry spaces, they all try to get into full groups, and thus will only have a complete line if enough troops are sent. File:Hoplite.png|Hoplite|link=Hoplite File:Steam Giant.png|Steam Giant|link=Steam Giant Light Infantry Light Infantry units are vital for the protection against flank attacks. Light infantry will occupy your flank. Light Infantry units will attack your opponents Light Infantry until your opponent has no more Light Infantry, after that, they will attack Long Range units and Heavy Infantry. They will move to the front line if it starts to break. Each of these take 30 men to fill up one battlefield slot. File:Spearman.png|Spearman|link=Spearman File:Swordsman.png|Swordsman|link=Swordsman Long-Range Fighter Long-Range Fighters attack your opponents front line. They occupy the long range area behind the front line (it does not have an official name). Long Range units also have a limited amount of ammunition, though they can share ammo with other Long Range units of the same type in the reserve. They will move to the front line if it starts to break. 30 each Slingers and Archers comprise a battlefield unit, but only 7 Sulphur Carabineers will completely fill a slot. File:Slinger.png|Slinger|link=Slinger File:Archer.png|Archer|link=Archer File:Sulphur Carabineer.png|Sulphur Carabineer|link=Sulphur Carabineer Fighter Pilot There is only 1 type of Fighter Pilot to occupy the Air Defense slot, the Gyrocopter. Gyrocopter can attack other air units, but can not attack any land units. 30 Gyrocopters will fill a battlefield unit. File:Gyrocopter.png|Gyrocopter|link=Gyrocopter Bomber There is only 1 type of Bomber to occupy the Air slot, the Balloon-Bombardier. Balloon-Bombardiers will first attack the opponents Artillery, if all the Artillery is destroyed, the remaining damage will hit the opponents long-range fighters. 15 Balloon-Bombardiers will fill a battlefield unit. File:Balloon-Bombardier.png|Balloon-Bombardier|link=Balloon-Bombardier Artillery Artillery weapons are essential for breaking down a higher level Town wall, providing large amounts of attack power. They will first attack the opponents wall, if your opponent has no wall remaining, the damage will go to other front line units. It is important to note that if your opponents wall is partly destroyed, all the damage will go to the remaining wall segments. Additionally, once a Town wall becomes Level 24, Rams can not do any damage to it. Although Catapults can damage any known level wall, it becomes very slow at higher levels, so mortars are recommended. Artillery will never move to the front line, therefore the close range attack is useless or only used when they run out of munition. Each of these weapons take 6 units to fill a battlefield slot. File:Ram.png|Ram|link=Ram File:Catapult.png|Catapult|link=Catapult File:Mortar.png|Mortar|link=Mortar Auxiliary These troops lie behind the front lines and even behind the artillery, they can not be killed unless they are forced to take the front line, they are the only troops you can have unlimited out at a time. Doctors will restore health, and Cooks will restore morale. File:Cook.png|Cooks restore morale|link=Cook File:Doctor.png|Doctors restore hit points|link=Doctor Category:Game mechanics Category:Guides